My Neighbor Totoro
1988 · Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Original language: Japanese
- fantasy
- animation
- family
The story
Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister seeks help from the spirits to find her.
What it’s like
Hand-drawn watercolour backgrounds of green hillsides, sunlit rice fields and dense, shadowed camphor forest, with soft pastel colour and gentle, unhurried cuts that let ordinary rooms and bus stops breathe in warm afternoon light. Its mood is gentle, wistful and quietly wondrous, the kind of warm, low-stakes calm that suits a rainy Sunday, a comfort rewatch, or a child's afternoon with the windows open. Pacing is leisurely and observational, with long stretches of everyday life (cooking, bathing, waiting for a bus in the rain) punctuated by moments of delight, and a sparse, lilting score of piano and wind-like melody gives the forest a hushed, breathing quality. The emotional register is tender, with a sustained undercurrent of worry about a sick parent that never tips into melodrama. Its siblings grow from prickly rivalry into trust, and their father stays steady and kind. Intensity is very low: there is no violence, no gore and no real menace, only a brief moment of fright and one tense night-time search. It is for families, for anyone wanting a soothing, imaginative film that treats childhood with warmth and curiosity, and for viewers who love nature, quiet magic and the comfort of small domestic routines.
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